Chương 93: Chapter 79 – The Corrupted Viscount

The moment Cade saw Aquelion looming over Pearl's pinned body, he broke into a sprint across the hollow. Ash exploded beneath his feet as he drove himself forward, cloak billowing behind him.

"Pearl!" His voice tore across the hollow and the giant gator's head snapped toward him. For a brief moment Cade saw glowing violet eyes fixed directly on him from across the clearing. Eyes that looked sharper, more aware, and saturated with far deeper violet corruption than when he had last seen the Viscount. Then Aquelion hissed. The sound rolled through the hollow in a deep, wet rasp that vibrated through the ground beneath Cade's feet. Mist exploded outward.

Dense black vapor burst from the massive gator's body in a violent wave, flooding across the hollow beneath the Great Tree. The dark fog rolled over the ground in thick choking currents that swallowed the entire clearing in seconds. Cade didn't break pace as cold dampness slammed into him. The mist clung to his skin and cloak, thick enough that he couldn't see more than an arm's length ahead through his normal vision. But his [Essence Sight] remained. And through it, Pearl blazed like a beacon.

Dense green life essence poured through Pearl's body in vast circulating currents, flowing through her channels and Core in pulsing cycles. The sheer density dwarfed anything Cade had ever seen before. Even the broodmother's essence paled in comparison. Pearl looked like a living bonfire of life essence. A realization hit him immediately. No wonder the young Ash Tortoises hunted the frogs. They were walking treasures overflowing with life essence.

If I killed Pearl right now and summoned the white flames— He shut that thought down immediately. There was no way he was going to kill Pearl just to build his Core. Then again… the amount of essence he would gain would be absurd. Enough to build a monstrous Core. Cade shook his head and shoved those thoughts aside as he drove himself forward. Those thoughts were not who he wanted to be.

The mist swallowed all sense of distance and direction, but Pearl's life essence burned so brightly in his [Essence Sight] that following it was effortless. Cade reached her within seconds and dropped to one knee beside her body.

"Pearl!" No response. He grabbed her shoulder and shook but she didn't stir. He could barely make out her outline through the dense black fog even from this close, but [Essence Sight] showed her channels clearly. Bright green life essence continued to circulate through her body and Core in steady rhythmic cycles. That had to be a good sign. Maybe she's just unconscious. Cade let out a quiet breath of relief before rising back to his feet.

The mist pressed in around him from every direction, swallowing sound itself and plunging the hollow beneath the Great Tree into oppressive silence. Then the fog to Cade's left thinned. A massive shadow darted through the opening before the mist thickened again. Cade spun immediately. Another thinning patch appeared to his right. Another shadow darted past but was gone just as quickly. Cade's eyes narrowed. Was Aquelion trying to ambush him? That matched what he remembered about alligators.

They were patient in their concealment until they exploded with sudden overwhelming violence. And without any water around, this mist was the perfect cover. The mist ahead of Cade suddenly thinned again. A dark shape moved deeper within the haze. Cade's eyes snapped toward it instinctively— And immediately realized something was wrong. He couldn't see any life essence through [Essence Sight]. This was a decoy. Cade whipped his head around just in time to see a massive blur erupt from the mist.

He barely reacted in time, twisting sideways as a huge black shape lunged past. Air exploded against his face an instant before a deafening snap cracked through the hollow. Aquelion's massive jaws were mere inches from his face before they vanished in a blur back into the mist just as quickly as they had appeared. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Cade planted his feet and forced himself to slow down. Panic would get him killed here.

The black mist swallowed almost everything beyond arm's reach, but the hollow was not silent. He heard the drag of scales through damp ash somewhere in the fog. Heard water drip from tangled roots beneath the Great Tree. Heard subtle shifts in the mist itself as something massive moved through it. And through [Essence Sight], he finally tracked Aquelion properly. A long streak of green life essence darted through the darkness in rapid bursts, weaving around the hollow in broad looping arcs.

As the seconds passed Cade noticed a pattern. The mist thinned opposite wherever the green streak moved. Every time Aquelion circled behind him, the mist shifted somewhere else. Shadows appeared where the gator wasn't, creating false openings that pulled attention away from the real threat. That big bastard was actively manipulating Cade's attention in order to try and ambush him. Cade almost laughed. That was genuinely clever. This wasn't instinctive animal behavior anymore. Aquelion was planning.

Manipulating the battlefield. Setting traps and forcing reactions like an experienced hunter instead of a territorial predator lashing out blindly. Against anyone else, it probably would have worked perfectly. The shifting shadows and thinning mist drew the eye naturally, pulling attention away from where the real attack would come from. Too bad for Aquelion [Essence Sight] made the trick nearly useless. Cade tracked the streak of green essence carefully as it circled through the hollow.

It moved much faster than something that size should have been able to. Aquelion never stayed still for more than a second. He looped through the mist in broad predatory circles, probing for an opening while staying far beyond reach. Cade resisted the urge to chase him. Pearl still lay unconscious behind him. If he moved too far away from her body, Aquelion could easily circle back and finish her off. He couldn't allow that so he positioned himself between Pearl and the moving line of life essence.

The green streak shifted direction suddenly. The line of life essence exploded toward him in a straight burst of motion as Aquelion lunged. This time Cade was ready. He sidestepped sharply as the massive toothy maw burst from the mist. Black scales flashed through the darkness and Cade heard another violent snap as enormous jaws slammed shut where his torso had been a fraction of a second earlier. But instead of retreating, Cade moved in. Both hands shot forward and clamped onto Aquelion's snout.

He locked around the gator's jaws and held on for dear life. It felt like grabbing broken glass. The scales around Aquelion's maw were far sharper than they should have been. Jagged black ridges scraped across Cade's palms like serrated obsidian. Several dug hard enough to sting, but his Toughness prevented them from piercing too deep. Cade grit his teeth and tightened his grip. Before the System, alligators had one of the strongest bite forces on Earth.

Cade remembered reading that they could crack bone and crush turtle shells with ease. But that strength only worked when closing around prey. Opening their jaws was weak by comparison. Unless whatever corruption Aquelion experienced changed his anatomy completely, Cade should be able to hold the gator's jaws shut. The giant gator's chest rumbled with a deep bellow that vibrated through Cade's arms.

Then the world lurched sideways as Aquelion whipped his head violently to the side, dragging Cade completely off his feet. Cade slammed hard into the ash as the corrupted gator thrashed with explosive force, trying to rip free of his grip. The mist churned wildly around them as Aquelion twisted again, massive muscles surging beneath black scaled hide. But Cade refused to let go. His fingers locked tighter around the snout.

If the mouth opened while he was this close, he wasn't sure his Toughness would save him from the resulting bite. Instead of passively letting himself get thrown around by the thrashing gator, Cade poured his will into the rhizome within him. Grow. The response came instantly. Cade felt the rhizome stir deep within his channels as the familiar pull spread through his body. The rhizome fed first on the essence still circulating through him from the ash worm.

Cade let it draw deeply for a moment before cutting the flow off sharply. The drain shifted immediately to his health, stamina, and mana. Lighter than before, but still there. The [Cloak of Ash] relied entirely on essence to maintain itself. If this fight dragged on, he needed to preserve enough in his channels to keep the cloak functioning. As Cade drove his will into the rhizome he did not picture a spear or a club. He pictured roots. Thick, flexible roots strong enough to bind Aquelion's maw shut.

The image sharpened in his mind and wood burst from both of his hands. Dark tendrils exploded outward from his palms and wrapped around Aquelion's snout in tight spirals. Cade felt the growth spread rapidly across the massive jaws, the roots tightening and crossing over one another again and again as they bound the maw shut. In [Essence Sight], the change became immediately visible. The long green line of Aquelion's life essence now had a second thinner strand coiling tightly around one end. Cade bared his teeth.

"Got you." He pushed harder and the roots constricted before the flexible tendrils hardened, locking tight around the gator's jaws in an attempt to keep them shut. Aquelion roared. The sound came out muffled beneath the bindings. Then the giant gator thrashed with enough force to finally tear Cade loose. The world spun violently as Aquelion whipped his head sideways and hurled Cade through the soaked ash. He hit the ground hard, rolled once, and sprang immediately back to his feet. The mist churned around him.

Cade's eyes snapped toward the moving line of life essence. Aquelion was already retreating deeper into the fog. Even with [Essence Sight], Cade barely tracked the streak of green darting through the mist in rapid bursts. But now the end of the essence line twisted and bucked as the gator fought against the roots binding its mouth shut. Cade kept his focus locked on the moving streak. Aquelion circled wider this time, no longer lunging immediately.

The corrupted Viscount moved restlessly through the mist, one end of the essence line jerking violently as it struggled to tear the restraints free. Then Cade heard thunder. The deep rumble rolled through the hollow. Static prickled across his skin. His expression tightened immediately. The pressure in the air changed. He could feel it building around him now, subtle at first, then rapidly intensifying. Tiny hairs along his arms and neck slowly rose as invisible tension spread through the mist.

The air itself felt heavier now. Every breath carried the sharp metallic taste of ozone while faint violet flickers pulsed deep within the black fog beyond his vision. Cade turned slowly, trying to pierce the darkness around him, but the thick black fog still smothered his normal vision almost completely. Even with [Essence Sight], all he could clearly make out was Pearl's blazing green essence nearby and Aquelion's rapidly moving line deeper in the mist. Another low rumble shook the hollow. Closer this time.

The static pressure intensified sharply. Cade glanced toward Pearl instinctively. She lay several meters away now after Aquelion's thrashing had displaced him during the struggle. Her life essence still cycled steadily through her unconscious body. The pressure in the air suddenly peaked. Every muscle in Cade's body tightened instinctively. Then a familiar discordant screech ripped through the hollow— And violet light exploded through the mist.